page_title: Montesa Honda
section_title: Growth and success in the 1960s and 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: Montesa Honda / Growth and success in the 1960s and 1970s
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a photo of an observed trials rider on a Montesa Cota 4RT. I release the photo into public domain. Don Williams 07:40, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
context_page_description: Montesa Honda is the Spanish subsidiary of Honda, which assembles several models of motorcycles, bicycles and parts at its Barcelona plant. The company exports 75 percent of its production to Europe.
context_section_description: Spain's economy began to improve. Permanyer promoted the all-around champion motorcyclist Pedro Pi from head test rider to chief development engineer. Leopold Mila was made Technical Director and Permanyer's son Javier, was to be Sports Assistant. Work began right away on designing a brand new all-unit-construction 175cc engine that by 1960, would power the latest Impala sports roadster model. This engine would form the basis of the company's future trials and motocross machines. To promote sales of this model, three Impalas were taken to Africa where they covered over 12,000 miles of terrain, most of it being off-road. Back in Spain, Pi was busy winning the Spanish motocross and road race championships and working on a new 250cc version.
  Following its introduction in 1965, the 250 engine would be the cornerstone of the company's future success. Mounted on the new 250 Scorpion scrambler, Pi won the Spanish championship again in 1966 and the similarly engined Sport roadster won the Barcelona 24-hour endurance road race. In 1967 the first Montesa trials models appeared and in 1968, the motorcycle now retitled the Cota, Pi won the Spanish Trials Championship. After adding this title to go along with the road race and six motocross titles, he retired from competition to devote his full energy to bike development.
  In the decade following, Montesa had unprecedented growth around the World and one has to remember that unlike Bulto's bike, the Bultaco, Montesa only sent a small percentage of its production to the States, concentrating mostly on the European market. Trials models were offered in many different sizes 25, 49, 125, 175, 250, 348 and 349, as were motocrossers 125, 175, 250, 360 and 414. This also included a line of street and Enduro models also. In 1973, the VR (Vehkonen Replica) was released and set the standard for 1974, as did the 348 Cota did in 1976. Ulf Karlsson won the World Trials Championship on a Cota in 1980.
  The 1974 film Freebie and the Bean directed by Richard Rush features a famous urban trail chase action scene, where the main character Freebie (James Caan), an unorthodox policeman, takes a Montesa Cota 247 from a casual bypassing rider. Freebie then exclaims "Its a Montesa!", and starts an spectacular chasing after the bad guys, running over cars, stairs, public fountains, etc., until the bike is lost and damaged, lasting for more than 3 minutes long in total.
caption: Montesa Cota 4RT
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